After months of delay, Mercer County freeholders voted unanimously last night to pass an ordinance establishing parking fees at the Trenton-Mercer Airport, and it is now up to the county administration to implement the plan.

The ordinance that passed last night will allow the county to charge separate rates for two tiers of parking. The county can charge $2 per hour for short-term parking and can set the price for long-term parking between $4 and $10 per day.

This ordinance represents a compromise between the administration and the freeholder board following a debate in May and June over what the range for daily parking rates should be. The administration had proposed a range of $5 to $12 per day, but the board refused to go that high, and the ordinance was delayed for more than two months.

The revenue generated from these fees will be used to pay for the construction and renovation of the parking lots at the airport — a project that is costing the county more than $2 million — as well as maintenance and security, County Executive Brian Hughes said. Once this is paid off, the county may be able to use the revenue generated from the parking for other expenses, both in and out of the airport, he said.

Hughes said that he anticipates that the parking charges will be in effect by the end of the year, but that the county still has some details to work out on implementing the plan. Officials still need to determine what type of system they will use to charge motorists. The county is considering options that would rely on credit cards or E-ZPass, he said.

The earliest this charged parking system is likely to be operational is Nov. 8, when Frontier Airlines resumes its flight schedule out of the airport, Hughes said.

The parking lot construction is just one of three projects being worked on at the airport in anticipation of Frontier’s return. The other two, runway work and terminal improvements, take priority over the completion of the parking lot and the implementation of the parking fees, Hughes said. Frontier has canceled flights at the airport while runway work is being done.

The parking construction will result in a total of 1,225 spots, the majority of which will make up three passenger parking lots.

A fourth, smaller lot will contain employee and rental car parking, and also will serve as a “cell phone lot,” which will allow motorists to park free while they are waiting to pick up passengers flying into the airport, county officials have said.

County officials also will consider incorporating a taxi stand once they have an idea of what the demand for taxis is when commercial flights pick up again, Hughes said.